Today I had a problem getting my '12 klx to go into first from neutral.
Sometimes it has a bit of trouble going into 1st from neutral, but i never had the bike actually die on me when shifting into 1st. Today it happened about 4 times. I kicked it up into second then down into first and it did not die that time. My oil level is right on the upper line. Anyone have an idea what is going on?

Thanks

Non-mechanical Noob

 

Sounds to me like you have a sticky Kick stand switch. Give it a shot with some WD-40 and cycle the plunger a few times and see if this helps.

 

its likely not a problem. They tend to be a little picky about getting into first. While in neutral apply pressure to the shifter while slowly letting the clutch out. It should drop into first. More pressure is not the answer.

By the way I recently rotated my shift lever down a few splines to change the angle. It made a huge difference in the quality of my shifts in general.

 

if the bike jumps a bit when it happens you may not be getting to open all the way

 

Is the bike trying to move forward when shifting into first, with clutch disengage? If yes, your clutch has drag and you should adjust the clutch cable for the proper one inch free play. If it's ok, you might have a more serious problem with the clutch itself.

If the bike is still free when you shift in first (i.e. no clutch drag), the problem might be the kickstand switch as SuperHawk mentioned, along with the clutch switch. Both of them would need to be defective for the engine to die when shifting in first, with the clutch fully disengaged (clutch lever pulled in). Which is a quite not likely scenario... May be the diode interlok unit is at fault?

 

What these guys said. The more you ride it the better it will get, not only the bike but you too. How many miles on the bike? You might consider an oil change.

 

Once you get 300-500 miles on it and get some fresh oil in it, it'll help. I went to synthetic in mine at 1500 and it's shifted ever so much better.

I also removed the kickstand switch to avoid any potential problems.

Rob

 

It has about 240 miles on it so far. I changed the oil at 120.

The problem has not happened since that time. I wonder if I had the kick stand down? I am not sure. Hopefully it was just something stupid like that.

 

Not that I have noticed. It did try to move forward a couple of times when I released the clutch when the Neutral light was on indicating it to be in Neutral. Evidently it was not in neutral. Now I get nervous releasing the clutch after putting it in neutral as I dont know if is really in neutral or not.

 

Strange. By the design of it, I would have thought it's impossible for the neutral light to come up if the trans is not in neutral. Since your bike is new, I would talk to the dealer about this issue.